Sony's "Jumanji" in rare return to top box office in N.America

Hollywood

AFP

Los Angeles: Sony's "Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle" managed the rare feat this weekend of regaining the No. 1 spot in North American box offices on its seventh week out, industry figures showed on Monday.

Taking in $10.9 million for the three-day weekend -- as competition with football's Super Bowl depressed ticket sales -- "Jumanji" became the first film since "Titanic," in 1998, to win a February weekend following a nationwide release in December.

After holding top spot for three consecutive weekends, the film closed out January in second place.

The family flick, starring Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, Jack Black and Kevin Hart, follows a group of teens who find themselves transported inside the video game world of Jumanji. Its domestic cumulative take of almost $338 million makes it only the third Sony film to reach that mark.

Last weekend's North American leader, Fox's "Maze Runner: The Death Cure," slipped to second place with a take of $10.5 million, according to industry tracker Exhibitor Relations. The dystopian sci-fi film follows the harrowing adventures of three teens who have survived a destructive virus infecting the world.

In third spot was a new release, "Winchester" from Lionsgate, with takings of $9.3 million despite abysmal reviews.

The movie, a gothic thriller, was inspired by the real-life story of Sarah Winchester, the 19th-century heiress to the Winchester gun-making fortune, who built an enormous, spookily elaborate mansion in California to appease the spirits of people killed by her family's firearms.

Despite the draw of Helen Mirren in the title role, the film scored a paltry nine per cent on the Rotten Tomatoes website. Even she could not "class up... this super-silly feature," The New York Times said.